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Soi Phet, seen nearly five years ago with jockey Joel Rosario at the now-defunct Betfair Hollywood Park in Inglewood, is now a 10-year-old gelding shooting for his sixth Los Alamitos stakes victory at the $75,000 E.B. Johnston Stakes on Saturday. (Ringo H.W. Chiu/The Associated Press)

Five stakes races, including the premier edition of the $100,000 Los Alamitos Special on Sept. 16, will highlight the 12-day Los Angeles County Fair thoroughbred meet at Los Alamitos Race Course that begins Thursday.

Racing will be conducted on a Thursday-Sunday basis. First post daily is 1 p.m. The meet, the second of three that Los Alamitos will host this year, will conclude Sept. 23.

The highlight of the meet figures to be the $75,000 E.B. Johnston Stakes on Saturday, part of a stakes doubleheader that will also include the $75,000 Beverly J. Lewis Stakes for 3-year-old fillies.

The venerable Soi Phet, a 10-year-old gelding claimed by his current connections for $16,000 in 2013, is the two-time defending Johnston champion and was part of a seven-horse lineup for this year’s edition that was drawn Wednesday.

Soi Phet, who will be shooting for his sixth Los Alamitos stakes victory, drew the No. 5 post position and will be ridden again by Alonso Quinonez. The son of Tizbud has won 15 of 60 lifetime for earnings of $1,021,364. He’s finished first or second in seven of nine starts at Los Alamitos.

Trained by Leonard Powell, Soi Phet won the Johnston by a half-length a year ago, the fourth of his local stakes victories. He added a fifth with his second victory in the Bertrando Stakes on July 4.

Gas Station Sushi, a winner of the Grade III Beaumont Stakes on April 8 at Keeneland, and Rayya, who took the Grade III UAE Oaks on March 1, head a field of seven 3-year-old fillies in the Beverly Lewis at 6 furlongs.

The one-mile Johnston, for 3-year-olds and up bred or sired in California, will go as the sixth race. The Lewis is the eighth of nine on the card.

The meet will conclude with the traditional $100,000 stakes for juveniles – the Barretts Debutante for fillies Sept. 15 and the Barretts Juvenile for colts and geldings Sept. 22. The races are restricted to horses offered at any Barretts sale.

The wagering menu includes the Pick Six, with the traditional 70-30 percent split (no jackpot), a pair of Pick 4’s – races 2-5 and the final four races – and the popular Pick 5, a 50-cent minimum wager with a low 14 percent takeout that is offered on the first five races.